Moving home is currently a stressful experience because the house buying and selling process is too slow and too uncertain for everyone involved. Nothing seems to happen for weeks after an offer has been agreed, and exchange of contracts can take months. Meantime there is no binding legal agreement, and the parties can change their minds about the price and even whether or not to buy or sell. The 'Exchange-Ready HIP' from Simply HIP reduces delays and helps to improve certainty, by getting to exchange of contracts sooner. Currently, the average time from offer agreed to exchange of contracts is 81 days. With the 'Exchange-Ready HIP' this delay could be reduced to less than a week, subject only to the buyer arranging a mortgage and, in the case of leasehold property, obtaining required information from the managing agents. HIPs have already been shown to reduce some of the time between offer agreed and exchange of contracts because some of the information is collected upfront. The Exchange-Ready HIP will reduce all or most of this time because all or most of the information to prepare the 'contract pack' will have been collected upfront. In addition to the documents in the standard HIP, the 'Exchange-Ready HIP' will contain:
The contract is prepared for Simply HIP by a firm of solicitors. The Property Information and Contents forms have been drafted by solicitors to meet the needs of most Buyer's solicitors and their clients. The Exchange-Ready HIP also contains a certificate by the same solicitors that "the Exchange-Ready HIP is sufficient to enable a Buyer's Lawyer to either proceed to Exchange of Contracts or raise additional enquiries if they feel they are appropriate". The Exchange-Ready HIP will in all sale transactions provide most, and in some cases all, the information which a Seller will need to provide to a Buyer's lawyer before contracts can be exchanged. In some cases, the Exchange-Ready HIP could be used to exchange contracts immediately the offer is accepted in the same way that the successful bidder at the auction becomes the owner of the property from the moment the hammer falls. There might be good reasons why contracts cannot be exchanged immediately, because for example, the lawyer needs to certify the title as good and marketable before the lender will release the mortgage money. Or further searches might be needed if the property is in a mining area or subject to common land. The managing agents for a leasehold flat will still need to provide information about proposed building works and arrears of rent or service charge, after they have been paid. But even when these circumstances apply, a Seller with an Exchange-Ready HIP and a Buyer with a mortgage agreed could still be moving in days and not weeks of the offer being accepted. The Exchange-Ready HIP delivers speed and certainty instead of delays and fall-throughs. This is excellent news for sellers and buyers. |